(Mirror.)

The infamous violent ‘Sauckel actions’, carried out from the spring of 1942, had become a result of the need to significantly increase the number of foreign workers in Germany. The Baltic local administration preferred to supply the manpower required by Sauckel from the districts where the Russian population prevailed, with the workers being obtained by extremely harsh methods. The single ‘Latgale action’ brought 8,000 workers to Germany. The fact that it was initiated directly by the local Baltic authorities is confirmed by the minutes of operational planning. For example, the plans of ‘Latgale action’ stated the following: “It was he [the Latvian General Oskars Dankers], who ordered to recruit the required labour force in Latgale without being instructed from the German side, just on the ground that Latgale was anyway inhabited by a large number of foreigners[.]”